Chris Young photo by Randee St. Nicholas, courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Chris Young kicks off his Liquid Neon Tour — his first headlining tour — tonight, November 15, at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. He sold out the historic auditorium weeks in advance and while it’s not his first sold-out show, it’s a special one. It’s also another step forward.

“We sold out the Ryman in Nashville which is always a hard thing, coming into Nashville and playing a show and getting people to show up and buy tickets,” he said. “It feels like I’m in a really good spot. I’m just ready for what’s going to be next year and beyond that, and hopefully growing this so somewhere down there road, we get to sell out bigger and better venues.”

Chris has done his time as a special guest on major tours. He used his opening slot to learn from some of the best in the business such as Miranda Lambert, Jason Aldean and Rascal Flatts. He’s incorporated a lot of what he learned into his first headlining adventure.

“I’ve kind of picked up little things here and there, ‘Yeah, I want to do that, no I don’t want to do this,’” he said. “Whether its ideas I have about lighting because we’re carrying a lot more of that stuff, having a semi, what are we going to put on it, what are we going to bring to the shows? Or little things. I’ve always really enjoyed seeing people do a ‘break down’ in their shows, something acoustic. We’ve added that for the Liquid Neon tour. We’re doing a true acoustic set.”

Being the headliner means Chris had a lot of decisions to make. He had to decide on catering, lighting and his set list among other things. He also had to choose who would tour with him. Ultimately, he landed on Thomas Rhett and Joanna Smith.

“I really love his writing ability and what he’s been able to do so far,” Chris said of Thomas. “I think he’s got a long career ahead of him, so being able to have someone like him and also having a label mate out there in Joanna Smith. Their music is different. I think it’s going to be really cool having both of them.”

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